


everything in the forest is the forest

by kendricked



Category: Pitch Perfect (Movies)
Genre: Established Chloe Beale/Beca Mitchell, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-21
Updated: 2019-10-21
Packaged: 2020-12-27 09:46:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,169
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21116726
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kendricked/pseuds/kendricked
Summary: Beca and Chloe take a walk in the woods on a Bellas camping trip in the fall of their senior year. The season of change reminds the two of them that a chapter of their life is coming to a close, and the quiet forest surrounding them reassures them that things are exactly how they are meant to be.





	everything in the forest is the forest

**Author's Note:**

> Hey everyone, this might be a weird little one shot but I wanted to give it a try. Lately I heard this quote "everything in the forest is the forest" (if you are obsessed with Christen Press like me then you probably already know it lol) and I loved the concept of the forest as a community working together, and so I wanted to write something that appreciated that. And I thought it might be a fun bonus to also highlight what makes Pitch Perfect special to me. Sorry this kinda doesn't exactly fit in with the canon of PP/PP2 buuuuut sometimes we gotta ignore canon lol. Thanks for reading!

“Mitchell! Get your skinny ass over here and help us prep for s’mores!” Amy calls out to Beca as she sits on a log near the fire.

Beca looks incredulously at Amy, who’s brandishing wooden skewers a little too dangerously for her taste. “Uh thanks, but I’m good. I kinda don’t wanna be impaled today.”

“Where’s your sense of adventure?” Amy asks as Lilly eyes the fire with a gleeful expression. She uses her skewer to poke the flames eagerly.

“My sense of adventure is real buddy buddy with my common sense right now,” Beca replies, wide eyed. “Lilly’s looking a little too much like a legit firebender over there.”

Amy retorts back, but it’s lost on Beca as she feels a warm hand on her lower back. Beca turns to see Chloe at her side, her long red hair pulled back into a ponytail. A free strand skirts across Chloe’s cheek and Beca brushes it back behind her ear.

“Hey,” Chloe says, her smile beaming brighter at Beca’s touch. “Wanna go on a walk with me?”

“Yes please,” Beca says without hesitation. She glances back over at the campfire, which she swears is already a foot higher with Lilly helming it. This only cements her answer further. “Just the two of us?”

“Just the two of us.”

Beca grins lopsidedly at Chloe, who returns the smile with equal measure.

“Chloe and I are gonna go for a walk,” Beca calls out, addressing the Bellas as a whole. “See you aca nerds later!”

Beca and Chloe wave their goodbyes to the group as they set off down the camp trail that winds into the woods of the campground. 

****

“Dude, I think you saved us both back there,” Beca says. “When we come back I’m not sure if there’s gonna be a campsite left.”

“Lilly really did seem at home with those flames,” Chloe agrees. 

A mixture of gravel and leaves crunch under their feet as they make their way down the narrow path, following the trail markers as they go. 

“I’m gonna miss them,” Chloe says abruptly, emotion in her voice. “I’m gonna miss everybody.”

“Chlo, we have like, nearly a full year left still,” Beca replies. “It’s only November and we’ve got until May.”

“I know. It’s just...I keep thinking about how everything is the ‘last’ of everything. The last first practice of the year, the last first performance of this year, the last camping trip…”

Beca reaches for Chloe’s hand. “Babe-”

“It’s probably a sad way of looking at everything, but I can’t help it,” Chloe says. “I feel like I’ll cherish it more, seeing it that way.”

“You’re sentimental. It’s not a bad thing,” says Beca comfortingly. “It’s really sweet. I know it’s easy for me to say, but try not to let it get you down. It’s gonna be a great year. There’s nothing you and I can’t handle. And nothing the Bellas can’t handle either.”

“Yeah, you’re right,” replies Chloe, still sounding not fully reassured.

They don’t speak again as they resume their hike, not due to awkwardness or anything in the slightest, but simply because they both are lost in their own thoughts. Chloe, who’s worrying over the future of her found family and the uncertainty of their continued closeness after college. Beca, who’s slowly letting Chloe’s words truly sink in, that the family who helped break her walls down will be parting ways at the end of spring next year. The end of one chapter gives rise to an ambiguous start of the next, this time without the familiarity of the Bellas to cushion the sharp and sudden blow of change.

****

After half an hour of walking along the trail, Beca and Chloe make their way into a small clearing in the woods. There’s a comfortable silence between them as Beca spreads out their blanket on the ground, padded gently by a thin layer of fallen leaves underneath. The pair lie down next to each other, shoulders touching. Chloe takes Beca’s hand in hers. Their hands provide a reassuring heat together, and it feels almost as if this connection alone is enough to keep them warm against the cool autumn air.

Beca absentmindedly traces her thumb along Chloe’s as she takes in the scenery around them. The trees above are a beautiful medley of orange, yellow, and red mixed into the familiar green. Beca’s eyes follow the crooked branches arching above them, tracing the natural fractals as they extend towards the sun.

“Do you think trees talk to each other?” Chloe says, breaking the silence. Her gaze doesn’t leave the soft blue sky peeking out at them from beyond the trees.

Beca laughs a little. “Seriously? Like ‘hey Elmer, what’s up today? Still _ pining _ after Taylor?’”

“‘Don’t mention Taylor to me, Oakley. You’re barking up the wrong tree’,” Chloe plays along with a smile. She falls silent for a few seconds. “But like, do you think they do?”

Beca turns her head to study her girlfriend. Chloe’s biting her lip in thought, looking contemplative as she twirls the stem of a fallen leaf in her free hand. Beca softens at the sight of her and looks back up at the sky. She swallows her next quip and provides a more sincere reply.

“I have no idea, Chloe.”

“It must be lonely if they don’t.”

Beca doesn’t know how to respond to that, so she stares at the trees above them, swaying in the gentle fall breeze. Several moments go by and she feels like she should say something. “I guess so.”

“Look at them all, so close together,” Chloe gestures above them. “They have to talk to each other somehow. Otherwise that would be like...could you imagine being so close to people all the time, and never being able to communicate with them?”

Beca shifts next to Chloe, feeling slightly uncomfortable by her words. “Yeah, I could.”

Beca feels Chloe turn her head to look at her, and Beca determinedly stares at the sky above them instead of meeting Chloe’s eyes.

“Beca.”

Chloe’s voice is soft and gentle. It’s the audible equivalent to a warm palm caressing Beca’s cheek. Chloe’s hand gives hers a little squeeze. Her touch says more than words could ever could.

“I mean,” Beca begins. “I didn’t say it like that to start a pity party or whatever. It’s just...that’s how I used to be. Everyone around me, and I wasn’t interested in saying a word to anybody. And like, I actively resisted it too. For a long time.”

Beca’s mind wanders back to a young sapling they both saw on their way into the clearing. How small it was, how much more growth it had to go through to catch up to the surrounding trees. She wonders briefly if it’s able to even get enough sun to make it to such a height to match the others. Is every day a struggle, a fight against things much bigger and more capable than itself?

“I don’t even know why,” Beca says. “Like, did I just think everyone was out to get me? Or did I think that no one would understand?”

Chloe remains quiet, letting Beca reflect on her own and kisses her knuckles. Beca laces their fingers together in appreciation.

Beca’s thoughts return to the sapling. At first glance, perhaps it is struggling, as all things do. Struggling is an inevitable part of life, Beca thinks to herself. And while Beca felt pity for the young plant at first, she finds herself looking at the huge trees around her now, and begins to consider it in a new light. As an opportunity for nearly limitless growth. Perhaps everything around it will help it, not hinder it. Maybe her initial assumption was incorrect.

She now pictures a warmth from the ground enveloping the sapling, much like Chloe’s love and affection. This warmth, this inner strength will give it the opportunity to create and maintain a strong base. The heart of the growing tree. She thinks about the rain entering the forest, cool and refreshing. Sometimes too overwhelming or not understanding when enough is enough, the rain is nevertheless a crucial component to its survival. A welcoming friend. Amy. The sun too, relentless and brutal like Aubrey at times, but overall associated with fond memories and a reminder that tomorrow is another opportunity. All of these elements interact with the sapling constantly, an everyday occurence permitting growth and prosperity. The sapling is not alone nor misunderstood, and never has been. Furthermore, it is never punished for fighting for its existence before it realizes this. Instead it is welcomed by the entire ecosystem of the forest, bringing it into the living and breathing natural rhythm of the world. Becoming a part of something bigger than itself while still holding onto its identity. Everything in the forest is the forest, and no thing can survive on its own without relying on one thing or the other. And that is okay, that is how the system is built. It is what it is meant for. It is where the beauty lies.

“But…” Beca says, finally turning her head to find Chloe’s eyes. “There’s always someone who understands. Sometimes they find you. And sometimes you need to reach out and find them. Let them in.”

Chloe beams at Beca, closing the distance between them with a kiss.

Beca kisses her girlfriend back, and breaks away gently. “I’m lucky that you found me. I’m lucky all you awesome nerds found me.”

“I’d say the same about you,” Chloe replies. “All of us would.”

Beca smiles and kisses Chloe’s forehead. She wraps an arm around Chloe’s shoulders, letting her girlfriend’s head rest on her shoulder as they fall quiet once more.

“I’m gonna miss everyone,” Chloe reiterates her thought from earlier. Beca can hear her voice quiver a little. “It’s gonna be really weird not seeing everyone all the time.”

“Yeah, it definitely won’t be the same,” agrees Beca.

“Do...do you think...we’ll all be so busy after college that we won’t be friends anymore?” 

“What?” Beca hugs her arm around Chloe, bringing her closer to comfort her. “Of course we’ll still be friends.” 

“You don’t know that for sure,” Chloe’s words tremble.

Beca considers the trees swaying overhead. They stand far apart from each other, rooted in their own space, with their own identity. And yet from this perspective, that distance is not visible. What remains in Beca’s field of vision is the neighboring branches stretched out across the blue backdrop of the world, reaching towards one another. It almost looks as though the trees are waving to each other, ready to embrace their neighbors as if distance were nothing but a mere concept and not an obstacle in the slightest.

“Yeah, I don’t, but I know the Bellas,” Beca says. “And we’ve grown up together. Learned a lot together and screwed up together. Those kinds of things create a bond between people. A kind of bond that distance can’t break.”

“I hope so,” replies Chloe, snuggling into Beca’s side.

“I do too,” Beca says as she gives Chloe’s shoulder a squeeze. “And I know everyone else does. And I think that means we’re gonna be okay. Yeah, things will be different. Change always happens. But what what we all share and have together goes beyond that.”

“Yeah, it does,” Chloe says with a slow smile, looking much more relieved. Beca grins at her before planting a kiss on her cheek.

“Plus, we made that blood pact and everything. So like. Bellas for life.”

“Bellas for life.”

The couple lie there for quite a long time, simply content with being in each other’s presence. They allow the only sound to be the orchestra of the forest, the staccato of the birds chirping accompanied by the occasional squirrel skittering up the rough bark of its home. The breeze between the trees remains a comforting undertone, keeping the natural music playing between rests. 

Eventually Beca and Chloe reluctantly agree it is time to leave their hidden peaceful oasis and join the rest of the Bellas back at the campsite.

“You know what? I do think trees talk to each other,” Beca says as she stands up, looking around her with new appreciation. Beca offers Chloe her hand.

“Yeah?” Chloe smiles, taking Beca’s hand to stand up. The two of them shake the blanket out before folding it up.

“How else would this place look like a freaking Monet painting? It all must work together to make it look so amazing. Everything has its role to play. Nature really does know how to do the whole teamwork thing,” says Beca, gesturing to the colorful landscape circling them.

“It really does,” Chloe agrees. “We’re not too bad either.”

“I think we’re definitely a close second.”

The gentle wind makes a quiet symphony with the surrounding leaves in the clearing, a sound of affirmation that hugs the two women as they leave hand in hand.


End file.
